CharonY

Sorry to be off-topic again, but I still do not see it. If the demand is lower, the courses will simply not be maintained any more. It does not cut the costs for the other courses, though. Again, each student is subsidized, increasing them does not directly turn into higher profit, likewise a reduction does not mean a decrease in profit. This is actually more tied to the way that the state may subsidize the universities. At the moment for instance, due to budget freezes certain universities actually have to take in less students, or increase the tuition fees, as they cannot afford the needed lecturers, TAs and lab costs.

I would also give the benefit of doubt here (and assume the journalist messed up).

AFAIK its effect on oxidative stress might be an indirect as it (IIRC) increases the production of superoxide dismutase. Or at least this is one of the actions that have been discussed, as its effects have not been elucidated in detail yet. But the life-extending effect appears to be closely linked to reducing the deleterious effects of high-fat diets. And it is indeed already available as supplements (it is a simple phytoalexin after all) in low dosages. But as it has a low bioavailability (most of it will be secreted from your body) it is unlikely to have any in vivo effects in that form. Also there are a number of papers out there that actually challenge any life extending effects (I only recall the first author: it was Pearson 2008). So in any case it is most likely not a miracle drug.

Actually there are extracellular RNAs. They are not involved in translation, but in a number of other processes, including as cofactors.

Oh, I have no problems taking the odd student in (as far as my time allows, of course). But what really pisses me off is when some guys who were good in class feel that they are entitled to do it. One of them even almost demanded it. But at this very point I actually have one student here that wants to go into medical. He was one of the few who actually read the papers I gave him and bothered to write something up. Well, actually four wrote something, but he was the only one that didn't copy/paste wikipedia to me and/or actually tried to write something that even I could recognize as English. The rest of the students I am taking care of right now are actually all Chemistry students trying to get some lab-time. All of the latter actually returned something, mostly in decent English. Probably because they are from India. But to get back to the topic, in Uni (med school entry is probably an extreme example, at least at undergrad levels) good marks do not entitle anyone to anything. Even hard work does not guarantee anything. It is as far removed from anything resembling instant gratification as it could be.

Actually now I think I recall this version, too. Was already around when I was student. Only that I think that I actually read it in paper form. Maybe in the student's magazine of the uni or something like that.

For some reasons I tend to like the Campbell "Biology". Probably because they give out nice slides that you can use in lectures ;P Well, most do. But I like the frog.

AFAIK this term is rarely used in most biological sciences. It does not necessarily allude to homeostasis but rather to the ability of self-reproduction (though both can be interconnected). I think Maturana and someone else whose name escape me at the moment proposed the concept in the eighties essentially in an attempt to define life. It is more frequently found within modeling or theoretical biology rather than "mainstream" biology (e.g. in the AI or artificial life field). It sees living entities as closed elements embedded but distinct from the environment and consisting of components that can give rise to further components. This basic model has been tweaked and applied to cognitive sciences somewhat, but to tell the truth my knowledge is too limited in this aspect to give some meaningful input.

Heh, that would require a bit more detail on what research or diaganostics is being done, wouldn't it?

Actually I fail to see how that would work. Mind you, I am not as long in the USA (and primarily as researcher and not lecturer) and am only starting to grasp some of the more intricate aspects of the system. However from what I have heard only about 30% of the educational cost per student is covered by the tuition fee (which again brings the point that education in the US is, imo massively overpriced). The rest is subsidized mainly by state funds (IIRC). It is probably true that some courses could simply be cut (and maybe some lecturers could be laid off that way....) but I am not sure whether that savings would really cut the overall overhead costs and thus allowing a reduction of tuition fees.

Off topic, but I can imagine that if you put that kind of question into an exam you would be so much in trouble. Hmm unless maybe it is marked with something like "bonus question". That gives me ideas....

Chill, Ecoli. If I would go asterisk every time such a student crosses my path I would have died from heart attack a while back. It appears to be worse with peeps that want to go to medical school though. I am working in different departments and we often get swamped by students who just want to take some lab courses to enhance their chances to get into med school. As the US system is incredibly focuses on marks and exam results, I have to listen every time to their GPA, how everyone topped their class (wonder how that is possible) and so on. I just mentally skip that and ask them to write a research proposal. That culls over 90% of the candidates.

On the plus side, solder is not addictive. With the possible exception of YT, of course.

A welcome to all the newcomers and what is so great about tonsils?I would rather keep a spare kidney, for instance.

Funny, before he retired Prof. Blume's office was about four doors from mine. Fancy reading something from him again. In any case, I suppose despite the babelfishy translation it should be somewhat clear, or does anyone require a more proper translation? And Kaltwasser just means pre-cooled water. E.g. directly from the fridge (w/o ice).

I second that.

Just wanted to add: MWCO = molecular weight cut-off.

Only a limited number of coding gene regions (and their products) have been identified to date. The current available numbers of genes in humans for instance, is based on estimations, not on actually having identified all of them.

EEeeeek Paul Davies.....

Prokaryotes do not have introns as such. Essentially you have several ORFs one after the other (in some cases even coupled). All under the control of the same promoter. And the resulting mRNA does not get further processed (there are exceptions, but I will ignore them for now).

It depends on the membrane (or rather what kind of channels are present). But a limiting factor is polarity. Glucose is very polar (or hydrophilic), as such it cannot pass a closed lipid membrane despite its relatively small size. Ow and technically glucose can pass through a dialysis tube, because the MWCO is usually fairly large (~3k and up).

Sounds like an excerpt from homework. Moved there.

There are also lead-free solders. Slightly more expensive, though (and you may need a different solder station).

Actually if one would like to be super-precise it ain't that straightforward. For instance, I recall that trypanosomes also transcribe polycistronic mRNA, however they get processed to monocistronic ones before translation. I am pretty sure that there are more exceptions.

No, because it either refers to several ORFs that are being co-transcribed, or (more frequently) to the amount of polypeptides that the final processed mRNA encodes. In effect, the processing step is ignored for this type of classification.